What Are Your Rights During a Job Interview?

The Equality Act 2010 protects job applicants from unlawful discrimination during recruitment.

An employer must not treat you less favourably because of a protected characteristic, including:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage or civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

Protection applies throughout the recruitment process, including the application stage, interview, selection process, job offer and withdrawal of an offer.

For example, an employer would risk unlawful discrimination if it decided not to appoint a woman because she said during an interview that she was pregnant or intended to have children.

Similarly, if you are rejected in circumstances suggesting that your sex, race or another protected characteristic influenced the decision rather than your suitability for the role, you may potentially have a discrimination claim.

For further guidance, see Discrimination.

Can an Employer Ask About Protected Characteristics?

Employers should generally avoid questions about protected characteristics unless there is a lawful and relevant reason for asking them.

Some questions are particularly restricted by law. For example, there are specific Equality Act rules limiting questions about an applicant's health or disability before a job offer is made.

Other questions about matters such as:

• Marriage
• Children
• Pregnancy
• Religion
• Race
• Sexual orientation

can create a significant discrimination risk if they are irrelevant to the role or influence the recruitment decision.

There are limited circumstances where protected characteristics can lawfully be considered, including certain occupational requirements, positive action and equality monitoring.

How is Discrimination Proved?

Direct evidence of discrimination is often difficult to obtain.

An employer will rarely state openly that it rejected an applicant because of their sex, race, age or another protected characteristic.

A Tribunal can therefore consider the surrounding evidence.

If you establish facts from which the Tribunal could conclude, in the absence of another explanation, that unlawful discrimination occurred, the burden can shift to the employer to provide an adequate non-discriminatory explanation.

Relevant evidence might include:

• Questions asked during the interview
• Interview notes
• Comments made by interviewers
• Differences in how applicants were treated
• Your qualifications compared with the successful candidate
• The employer's stated reasons for rejection
• Recruitment scoring
• Emails or other communications

Discrimination does not necessarily have to be deliberate or consciously motivated.

An employer can also potentially be responsible for discriminatory acts carried out by employees during the recruitment process.

What Questions Should an Employer Avoid at Interview?

Interview questions should normally focus on whether you have the:

• Skills
• Experience
• Qualifications
• Knowledge
• Availability
• Ability to perform the role

Questions about personal characteristics that are unrelated to the job can create discrimination risks.

The following areas require particular care.

1. Health and Disability

An employer must generally not ask about your health or disability before offering you a job or placing you in a pool of successful applicants, unless a statutory exception applies.

This includes unnecessary questions about:

• Medical conditions
• Disability
• Previous sickness absence
• Number of sick days taken in previous employment

There are, however, limited circumstances where health or disability questions can lawfully be asked before an offer.

These include questions necessary to:

• Establish whether reasonable adjustments are needed for the recruitment process
• Establish whether you can carry out an essential part of the role after reasonable adjustments are considered
• Support permitted positive action
• Establish whether a particular disability is an occupational requirement
• Collect equality monitoring information separately from the recruitment decision

For example, if a role genuinely involves regular manual handling, an employer may ask questions necessary to establish whether you can perform that essential function, while also considering whether reasonable adjustments would enable you to do so.

An employer should not use such an exception as an excuse to obtain broad medical information that is irrelevant to the role.

Can an Employer Ask About Your Health After Making an Offer?

Yes, the rules are less restrictive once an employer has offered you the job, either outright or conditionally, or selected you as part of a successful pool of candidates.

The employer may then ask appropriate health questions, for example to:

• Determine whether reasonable adjustments are required
• Assess whether you can perform the role
• Meet legitimate health and safety requirements

Any health information must still be handled in accordance with discrimination and data protection law.

An employer cannot normally obtain a medical report about you from your doctor or another medical professional without following the applicable consent requirements.

For further information, see Disability Discrimination and Reasonable Adjustments.

2. Age

Recruitment decisions should not normally be based on your age unless a lawful exception applies.

Employers should therefore avoid unnecessary questions about:

• Your age
• Your date of birth
• How close you are to retirement
• How many years you expect to continue working

For example, asking an older applicant how long they intend to continue working could create evidence of age discrimination if the answer later influences the recruitment decision.

There are circumstances where age can legitimately be relevant, such as where a person must legally be a particular age to perform the job.

An employer can also collect date-of-birth information separately for legitimate equality monitoring purposes, provided it is not used by those making the recruitment decision.

3. Marriage, Children and Pregnancy

An employer should not base recruitment decisions on whether you:

• Are married
• Are single
• Are in a civil partnership
• Have children
• Intend to have children
• Are pregnant
• Plan to become pregnant

Questions such as:

• "Are you planning to start a family?"
• "Who will look after your children?"
• "Are you likely to become pregnant soon?"

should not form part of an ordinary recruitment decision.

An employer can ask legitimate questions about the requirements of the role.

For example, if the job genuinely requires evening or weekend work, all relevant applicants can be asked whether they are able to work those hours.

The employer should focus on your availability for the job, rather than assumptions about childcare or family responsibilities.

4. Race, Nationality, Religion and Belief

An employer should not reject you because of your:

• Race
• Colour
• Nationality
• Ethnic origin
• National origin
• Religion
• Belief

Questions about where you or your family were born, your ethnic background, native language or religious beliefs can create discrimination concerns where they are unrelated to the job.

Employers are entitled, and in many circumstances required, to check that a successful applicant has the legal right to work in the UK.

However, right-to-work checks should be carried out consistently and should not be based on assumptions arising from someone's:

• Name
• Accent
• Appearance
• Race
• Nationality

Where language ability is genuinely required for the role, the employer can assess the relevant language skill without discriminating because of someone's race or national origin.

Can an Employer Require a Particular Protected Characteristic?

In limited circumstances, yes.

An employer may rely on an occupational requirement where having a particular protected characteristic is genuinely essential to the role and applying the requirement is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

This is a narrow exception.

An employer cannot simply prefer a particular:

• Sex
• Race
• Religion
• Age group

because it believes customers or colleagues would prefer that person.

Positive action may also be lawful in certain limited recruitment situations, including as a proportionate tie-break measure between candidates who are genuinely of equal merit.

5. Previous Convictions

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 allows many criminal convictions and cautions to become spent after a specified rehabilitation period.

For most jobs, once a conviction is spent you generally do not have to disclose it to an employer.

The rehabilitation period depends primarily on:

• The sentence or disposal imposed
• Your age when convicted or when the disposal was administered

It is therefore the sentence rather than simply the type of offence that is important.

Different rules can apply to roles that are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.

Can an Employer Ask About Spent Convictions?

For most ordinary jobs, an employer cannot require you to disclose convictions or cautions that are legally spent.

However, certain occupations and positions are exempt from the normal Rehabilitation of Offenders Act rules.

Depending on the role, this can include work involving areas such as:

• Children
• Vulnerable adults
• Healthcare
• Certain regulated professions
• Law enforcement
• Particular positions of trust

Where an exception applies, an employer may be permitted to obtain an appropriate Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and consider information that would not normally need to be disclosed.

Even for an exempt role, not every historic conviction or caution will necessarily appear on every DBS certificate because separate filtering rules can apply.

What Counts as a Spent Conviction?

For England and Wales, rehabilitation periods were significantly changed from 28 October 2023.

For adults aged 18 or over when convicted, common current rehabilitation periods include:

• Custodial sentence of 1 year or less – 1 year after the sentence, including any licence period, ends
• Custodial sentence of more than 1 year and up to 4 years – 4 years after the sentence ends
• Custodial sentence of more than 4 years for an eligible offence – 7 years after the sentence ends
• Fine – 1 year from conviction
• Community order – Generally when the order ends
• Simple caution – Spent immediately
• Conditional caution – Generally 3 months or when it ceases to have effect if earlier
• Absolute discharge – Spent immediately

Some sentences never become spent.

This includes certain life and public protection sentences and custodial sentences of more than four years imposed for specified serious violent, sexual or terrorist offences.

Different rehabilitation periods generally apply where the person was under 18 when convicted.

The law in Scotland and Northern Ireland differs, so the appropriate rules should be checked separately.

Are You Entitled to Know Why You Did Not Get the Job?

There is no general legal obligation requiring an employer to give an unsuccessful applicant detailed reasons or feedback.

You can still ask the employer to:

• Explain its decision
• Provide interview feedback
• Explain the selection criteria
• Confirm the recruitment process used

Providing feedback is generally good recruitment practice, but an employer does not normally have to provide it.

If you believe discrimination occurred, you can also ask questions about the recruitment decision.

The employer is not necessarily legally required to answer those questions, but its answers, or in some circumstances its failure to respond, may later form part of the evidence considered by an Employment Tribunal.

A failure to provide feedback does not by itself prove discrimination.

What if You Think You Were Rejected Because of Discrimination?

You may wish to record:

• What questions were asked
• Who interviewed you
• What comments were made
• The date of the interview
• The reason given for rejection
• Any feedback received
• Why you believe the decision was discriminatory

You can ask the employer to reconsider or explain its decision.

If the matter cannot be resolved, you may potentially bring an Employment Tribunal claim.

As at 10 September 2026, most discrimination claims generally need to be started within three months minus one day of the discriminatory act.

You must normally notify Acas before presenting the claim.

From 1 October 2026, the time limit for most Employment Tribunal claims will increase to six months minus one day where the relevant limitation period starts on or after that date.

Can You Be Disciplined for Looking for Another Job?

There is no general rule preventing an employee from applying for another job while they remain employed.

However, you still have obligations to your current employer.

Problems can arise where, for example, you:

• Conduct extensive job searches during working time
• Allow your performance to deteriorate
• Misuse company IT systems
• Take confidential information
• Approach customers improperly
• Breach lawful contractual restrictions

Your employer's IT and acceptable-use policies should therefore be checked before using company:

• Computers
• Email
• Telephones
• Internet access

for personal job-search activity.

Simply considering another job does not automatically amount to misconduct, but the way you conduct your search can create legitimate disciplinary issues.

Does Your Employer Have to Give You Time Off for Interviews?

Usually, no.

There is no general statutory right requiring an employer to give you paid time off to attend an interview for another job.

Depending on your circumstances, you may need to:

• Use annual leave
• Request unpaid leave
• Agree alternative working hours

Your employment contract or workplace policy may provide more generous rights.

What if You Are Being Made Redundant?

Different rules can apply if you are under notice of redundancy.

If you will have at least two years' continuous employment by the end of your notice period, you are generally entitled to a reasonable amount of time off during the notice period to:

• Look for another job
• Arrange training to help you find employment

What amounts to reasonable time will depend on the circumstances.

Relevant factors can include:

• The type of work you do
• Availability of suitable jobs
• Distance you need to travel
• Number of interviews
• Training opportunities

Your employer's statutory obligation to pay for this time off is limited.

Regardless of how much reasonable time you take, the maximum statutory payment your employer is normally required to make is equivalent to 40% of one week's pay.

For further guidance, see Redundancy.